At the recent AATS meeting in Philadelphia, I was very fortunate to meet with Dr. Craig Smith, the chairman of surgery at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital / Columbia University Medical Center.

Over the years, I have heard from many patients who wanted to learn about the Trifecta heart valve replacement and its clinical trials. As you might recall, this aortic valve replacement device is described by St. Jude Medical, its manufacturer, as a "next generation" heart valve replacement that:

Carole recently sent me an interesting email about Ian, her sixteen-year old son who suffers from aortic valve disease.

In case you missed it, some interesting data was just released about the Mosaic porcine heart valve replacement. According to a report in The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, the Mosaic bioprosthetic valve -- which has been implanted in patients for the past 12 years -- continues to demonstrate positive performance.

During the 47th annual Society of Thoracic Surgeons meeting last week, I received a great question from Keith about the use of horse (equine) tissue in heart valve replacement devices. Keith wrote to me, "Adam - What can you share about aortic valve replacement surgery using horse tissue?"

As a follow-up to our recent discussion about re-operation rates, I just received an interesting question from Steve about tissue valve replacements and the potential reasons for premature failure.

I just received a very interesting question from Joseph about the different types of tissue heart valve replacements.

I just received a great email from Mike about heart valve replacements. Mike writes, "Adam - I've got a severely leaky valve and need mitral surgery. I'm 55 and never knew about my prolapsed valve. Just curious... If the surgeon can't repair my leaflets, how much do the replacement devices cost? Thanks, Mike"

I just received a great question from Kate about heart valve replacement surgery.

As technology for heart valve treatment rapidly advances, we continue to learn more about the roll-out of percutaneous devices for both heart valve repair and heart valve replacement. On Tuesday, Medtronic announced that regulators in the European Union have approved the latest version of its CoreValve heart system.

I just received a unique question from Dave about situs inversus and heart valve replacement.

I just received an interesting question from Jenny about the size of a mechanical heart valve replacement.

I just received a very unique question from Barb about carcinoid tumor injections and bovine heart valve replacements. Barb writes to me:

I just received a great question from Diane about heart valve replacements.

In response to our recent discussions about the progression of heart valve stenosis and rheumatic heart valve disease, I have received several emails about the anatomy of the heart and the anatomy of our heart valves. Most of these inquiries have come from patients recently diagnosed with some form of severe valvular disorder.

The consolidation trend within the heart valve industry continued yesterday as ATS Medical was purchased by Medtronic in a cash deal valued at $350 million. So you know, that is a 54% premium to ATS' market capitalization on Wednesday. As a result, ATS's stock soared $2.59 to $4.00.

Joseph Minnucci has really taken advantage of our new Heart Valve Journals tool to communicate with his support group and fellow patients. That said, you may already be aware that Joe had heart valve replacement surgery on February 8, 2010.

I just received a great question from Mary Anne about heart valve anatomy. Specifically, she is interested to learn more about valvular function within the heart.

As many of you know, this is a very exciting time for the heart valve surgery community given the rapid advance of medical technologies used to treat diseases including aortic stenosis and mitral regurgitation.

My wife, Robyn, loves the television show Grey's Anatomy.